Retainer ring for a wire package and method of using the same

ABSTRACT

A retainer ring is provided for use in a welding wire package having looped magnetic welding wire. The ring is a flat sheet of flexible permanent magnet material with an outer periphery and an inner periphery and includes printed material on the ring which can be cut from the ring and affixed to any metal surface.

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. applicationSer. No. 10/873,673, filed Jun. 22, 2004, which application isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The present invention relates to welding wire packaging and moreparticularly to an improved retainer ring for a welding wire packagethat can be re-used as a refrigerator style magnet when the wirepackaging is discarded.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

Welding wire used in high production operations, such as robotic weldingstations, is provided in a package having over 200 pounds of wire. Thepackage is often a drum where a large volume of welding wire is loopedin the drum around a central core or a central clearance bore. Duringtransportation and use the level of looped wire in the drum decreases.To control the transportation and payout of the wire, it is standardpractice to provide an upper, weighted retainer ring. An early ring isshown in Kawasaki U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,367 wherein the ring slides by itsown weight along the inner surface of the drum by outwardly extendingresilient members. These members center the ring over the top of theloop wire so the wire can be pulled to the center and paid out duringwelding. This patent is incorporated by reference herein as backgroundtechnology which need not be repeated in this disclosure.

A similar retainer ring is shown as prior art in Cooper U.S. Pat. No.5,277,314 which is directed to an improved upper retaining ring whichhas an inner contoured surface to facilitate wire payout withouttangles. This patent is incorporated by reference herein. A retainerring more close to the type of ring of the present invention isdisclosed in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934 wherein the ring isdescribed as having a function during transportation to move downwardlyas the welding wire settles in the drum. This patent is alsoincorporated by reference herein.

The present invention relates to use of a particular material for theflat retainer ring. This material was introduced by Max Baermann in thelate 1950's and is disclosed generally in Baermann U.S. Pat. No.3,051,988 which is incorporated herein by reference. The Baermannmaterial is barium ferrite in a non-magnetic, flexible binder and iscommonly used for flexible magnet sheets of the type used for removabledisplays. Such material is now manufactured by many companies. Thepresent invention utilizes a thin, flexible permanent magnet sheet ofsuch character manufactured by Flexmag, Inc. of Marietta, Ohio. Thepresent invention does not relate to any novelty in the flexible magnetsheet, which sheet is a standard commercial product havingcharacteristics which need not be repeated in this disclosure.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

In the welding industry, tremendous numbers of robotic welding stationsare operable to draw welding wire from a package as a continuous supplyof wire to perform successive welding operations. The advent of thismass use of electric welding wire has caused tremendous research anddevelopment in improving the packaging for the bulk welding wire. Acommon package is a drum where looped welding wire is deposited in thedrum as a wire stack, or body, of wire having a top surface with anouter cylindrical surface against the drum and an inner cylindricalsurface defining a central bore. The central bore is often occupied by acardboard cylindrical core as shown in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934.It is common practice for the drum to have an upper retainer ring thatis used in transportation to stabilize the body of welding wire as itsettles. This ring, as is shown in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934,remains on the top of the welding wire to push downward by its weight sothe wire can be pulled from the body of wire between the core and thering. Each loop of wire has one turn of built-in twist so that when itis paid out, the twist introduced by releasing a loop of wire iscanceled. Hence the wire is “twist-free” when it reaches the contact tipof the welding gun. The built-in twist causes the wire to spring up fromthe top of the stack when unrestrained. The weighted ring prevents wirefrom springing up due to the built-in twist. The weight of the ring iscritical. Heavier rings tend to bend or recast the wire, causing wire towobble when it exits the contact tip, although it is more effective toprevent tangle. Lighter rings can be easily lifted by the wire duringpayout, thus losing its contact to the top of the wire stack; andthereby losing its intended purpose of restraining wire movement at thetop of the wire stack. Lighter rings have more propensity of tangle,although producing less wire wobble. This is the pitfall of the weightedring design, essentially facing the difficulty of striking a balance ofless tangle and less wire wobble. Tangles are detrimental to theoperation of the package since they cause down time of the roboticwelding station. Tangles are caused by many adverse movements of thewire loops on top of the wire stack. The wire has a winding cast thatcan snap around the outside of the retainer ring or the wire can bunchand slip at the inside of the retainer ring. The most common tangle iscaused as wire is pulled from the inside of the ring and is referred toas “e script” because of its shape. An e script tangle stops operationof the welder and must be removed. Retainer rings so far on the marketare not effective in preventing e script tangles. This type of tangle iscaused by poor alignment of drive rolls of the wire feeder that buildsup back-twist in the wire as it feeds the wire. The twist ultimatelymakes it way back to the drum and leads to an e script tangle. Theobjective of a retainer ring design is to increase operating weldingtime between successive e-tangles. The weighted retainer rings have notbeen successful in eliminating such tangles. The present invention isrelated to a retainer ring which essentially eliminates e script tanglesin the welding wire being pulled from the center of the looped wire bodyof a drum package.

In addition, due to the high volumes of wire used during many weldingoperations, especially robotic welding operations, there is also a needfor a wire package that can be easily and economically disposable. Ascan be appreciated, it is not economical to re-use the packagingutilized to ship and dispense the welding wire.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, the standard weighted retainerring, as shown in Cooper U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,934, is formed from a thinflat, flexible permanent magnet sheet. Thus, the welding wire newpackage includes a cylindrical drum with a central axis and containingmultiple layers of looped welding wire defining the wire stack to bepaid out, which body has an upper ring shaped surface with an outercylindrical surface generally matching the drum and an inner cylindricalsurface defining a central bore concentric with the drum axis. The wirebody is overlaid with a flexible permanent magnet ring on the top of theupper ring shaped surface. This magnet retainer ring allows welding wireto be paid out from under the ring and upwardly from the central bore ofthe welding wire body loaded into the drum. The flexible magnet sheet isa standard commercial product; however, its use as a retainer ring for awelding wire package involves cutting the commercial sheet into a ringshape having an outer periphery covering or overhanging the wire stackand an inner periphery which is generally circular and matches the innersurface of the stored welding wire stack. Furthermore, in view of thefact that the magnet retainer ring will be disposed of after the weldingwire in the wire package is consumed, the magnetic retainer ring isprinted with marketing material such as a company logo which can be cutfrom the ring and used by the end user in similar fashion as arefrigerator magnet. This reduces the amount of waste produced by thepackaging and provides an effective marketing tool.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision of aretainer ring for a welding wire package wherein the retainer ring isformed from a sheet of flexible permanent magnet material that is heldon the top of the wire by the magnetic force created by the sheet andnot by its weight and which includes material printed on the ring thatcan be cut from the ring and affixed to virtually any metal object.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a retainerring, as defined above, wherein marketing material is printed on thering.

Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of aretainer ring, as defined above, wherein the retainer ring reduces theamount of package material that is discarded after the wire in thepackaging is consumed.

Another object is to provide a medium to easily communicate marketingmaterial to the end user.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing description taken together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The foregoing objects, and more, will in part be obvious and in part bepointed out more fully hereinafter in conjunction with a writtendescription of preferred embodiments of the present inventionillustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a welding wire package shown inpartial cross-section that includes a retainer ring according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken generally along line 2-2 of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial view showing, in cross-section, theoperating characteristics of the retainer ring of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the retainer ring shown in FIG. 1;and,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of another embodiment of the retainerring shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A standard welding wire drum type package is shown in FIGS. 1-3 whereinwire W is stored in and paid out of cylindrical drum 10 having a bottom12, a top 14 and an inside diameter 16. In accordance with this type ofdrum it is common practice to use a cylindrical cardboard core 20 havingan outer diameter 22. Inside surface 16 and outside surface 22 arecylindrical and concentric with a central axis a of drum 10. At thewelding facility, the top or lid of drum 10 (not shown) is removed andreplaced with a feeding hat 30 including an upper grommet 32communicating with a standard feed tube 34. Wire W is pulled from drum10 during the welding operation. Package A is loaded at the wiremanufacturing facility by being looped around core 20 to define a bodyof welding wire having a top surface 40, an outer cylindrical surface 42against surface 16 and an inner cylindrical surface 44 against or closeto surface 22. In this manner, a central vertically extending bore 46 isconcentric with axis a and around core 20. In some instances, the coreis not used, but center bore 46 is provided in the wire loopingoperation. The wire is looped in a manner that has a cast to facilitatepayout with a minimum of tangles. However, while the invention of thisapplication is described in connection with drum containers, it shouldbe appreciated that it can be used in connection with virtually anywelding wire container which utilizes a retainer ring for controllingthe unwinding of the wire.

The present invention relates to a retainer ring R that is used in drum10 to prevent tangles as wire W is pulled from the body of wire. Ring Ris cut from a flexible permanent magnet sheet and has a top surface 60and a bottom surface 62. The sheet is cut into a shape defining an outerperiphery 64 and an inner periphery 66. As shown in FIGS. 1-3, ring R isspaced slightly inward of surface 16 and is not quite as small as thecircumference of surface 22. Essentially, ring R will fit within drum 10and allow a gap between periphery 66 and surface 22 so wire W can bedrawn from the top of the wire body and from under the retainer ring.This payout action is illustrated in FIG. 3.

A suitable magnetic sheet from which ring R is formed is available fromFlexmag Inc. in Marietta, Ohio. The ring has a thickness b that ispreferably 1/16 of an inch. The thickness can be adjusted generallybetween about 0.01-0.10 inches. The preferred sheet is made from ferriteparticles in a non-magnetic binder. The ferrite is normally bariumferrite and the binder is polyethylene. The magnetic strength of theflexible sheet is preferably 0.6 Megagauss Oersteds. However, it hasbeen found that a magnetic sheet having less than about 1.0 MegagaussOersteds can be used. Of course, other magnetic particles can be usedinstead of the low cost ferrite, which is normally used in thecommercial flexible permanent magnet sheets. The sheets can be easilycut by a punch press without losing any magnetic energy. As shown inFIG. 3, one advantage of this type of ring is that ring R is movedupwardly at the circumferential location where the wire is being pulledfrom the drum. This is illustrated as a flexed or lifted distance c. Atthe same time, the downward force on the top surface 40 is maintainedconstant as indicated by arrows 70. Thus, the weight of the ring is notcontrolling payout of wire W. The magnetic force of the ring holds thering down, except where it is being pulled upwardly allowing removal ofwire W.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, ring R is also printed on top surface 60with printed material(s) which will be discussed in greater detailbelow. Accordingly, after the wire is consumed, the ring can be re-usedas one or more refrigerator-type magnets to display the printedmaterial. As can be appreciated, while these printed portions can bemagnetically attached to a refrigerator, they can also be magneticallyattached to virtually any metal objects including, but not limited to, ametal tool box or a metal enclosure. As a result, a functional byproductof ring R is created to minimize waste.

In greater detail, after the welding wire is consumed, the end user ofthe welding wire package can remove ring R from the package and cut oneor more of printed materials 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114and/or 116 from the ring. The end user can then use the piece(s) cutfrom the ring as a refrigerator-style magnet or give them to others forthe same use. The printed material can be within a cutting guide line118, as is shown for printed material 100, to help direct the cutting bythe end user. Further, cutting line 118 can include at least a partialperforation to make removing the printed material easier. In addition,the printed material can include a printed background portion 120containing a desired background color and/or design for the printedmaterial. As can be appreciated, by including a printed background, onlya portion of the ring needs to be printed based on the number of printedmaterials used on the ring. In addition, by including background portion120, the printed material does not need to be precisely cut from thering. Ring R can further include several of the same printed materialson one ring so that the end user can pass out the printed material tomultiple co-workers and/or other individuals for each wire packagepurchased. Further, since ring R is made from a flexible plasticmaterial, the printed material can be easily cut from the ring.

As is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the printed material can be a wide varietyof printed material. Further, the printed material can be a combinationof different printed materials or a single design repeated about thering. The printed material can include one or more company logos,service marks and/or trademarks so that, as is stated above, thematerial can be passed out to more than one individual. In addition, theprinted material can be virtually any type of promotional material andcan include the promotion of an event such as a sporting event. Theprinted material can also be a variety of printed materials whichessentially has no limit except for the amount of space available onsurface 60. The printed material can also include purchasing informationand/or contacts and can be printed directly on surface 60 of ring R inblack print and/or colored print. In yet another embodiment, the printedmaterials can be labels affixed to surface 60. Regardless of thecharacter of the material(s), surface 60 can be completely covered witha background color, such as white, and/or the printed material caninclude a small background portion extending about the printed materialas is discussed above.

While considerable emphasis has been placed on the preferred embodimentsof the invention illustrated and described herein, it will beappreciated that other embodiments and/or equivalents thereof can bemade and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodimentswithout departing from the principals of the invention. Accordingly, itis to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter isto be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as alimitation.

1. A welding wire package comprising an outer packaging with a centralaxis, a wire coil in said packaging coaxial with the packaging axis,said wire coil having a top surface, a bottom surface, and an outercylindrical surface, and a retainer ring within said outer packaging,said ring having a top surface and a bottom surface, said bottom surfaceof said ring being on said top surface of said coil, said retainer ringallowing welding wire to be paid from under said ring upwardly from saidcoil and including printed material on at least one of said top andbottom surfaces of said ring, said retainer ring includes an annularring body that is substantially flexible and magnetic, wherein the ringbody includes one or more magnets positioned therein, the one or moremagnets being separable from the ring body and having at least a portionof the printed material positioned along an outer surface of each suchmagnet.
 2. The welding wire package as defined in claim 1 wherein saidat least one of said top and bottom ring surfaces is said top surface.3. The welding wire package as defined in claim 1 wherein said printedmaterial includes marketing material.
 4. The welding wire package asdefined in claim 3 wherein said marketing material includes a companylogo.
 5. The welding wire package as defined in claim 1 wherein saidprinted material includes at least one of a trademark, a service markand a company logo.
 6. The welding wire package as defined in claim 1wherein said printed material includes purchasing information includingordering information.
 7. The welding wire package as defined in claim 1wherein said printed material includes printed material printed directlyon said at least one top and bottom surface of said ring.
 8. The weldingwire package as defined in claim 1 wherein said printed materialincludes labels affixed to said at least one top and bottom surface ofsaid ring.
 9. The retainer ring as defined in claim 1 wherein saidprinted material includes a cutting guide line.
 10. A welding wirepackage comprising an outer packaging with a central axis, a wire coilin said packaging coaxial with the packaging axis, said wire coil havinga top surface, a bottom surface, and an outer cylindrical surface, and aretainer ring having a to surface and a bottom surface and an annularring body formed from a flexible magnetic material, said bottom surfaceof said ring being on said top surface of said coil, said retainer ringallowing welding wire to be paid from under said ring upwardly from saidcoil and including printed material on at least one of said top andbottom surfaces of said ring, said printed material being affixed to aable removable portion of said retainer ring to form a separable magnet.11. The welding wire package as defined in claim 10, wherein saidremovable portion of said retainer ring with printed material includes ameans for removing said removable portion with printed material.
 12. Thewelding wire package as defined in claim 10 wherein said at least one ofsaid top and bottom ring surfaces is said top surface.
 13. The weldingwire package as defined in claim 10 wherein said printed materialincludes marketing material.
 14. The welding wire package as defined inclaim 10 wherein said printed material includes at least one of atrademark, a service mark and a company logo.
 15. The welding wirepackage as defined in claim 10 wherein said printed material includespurchasing information including ordering information.
 16. The weldingwire package as defined in claim 10 wherein said printed materialincludes printed material printed directly on said at least one top andbottom surface of said ring.
 17. The welding wire package as defined inclaim 10 wherein said printed material includes labels affixed to saidat least one top and bottom surface of said ring.
 18. The welding wirepackage as defined in claim 10 wherein said printed material includes acutting guide line.
 19. The welding wire package as defined in claim 10wherein the ring includes at least partial perforations to facilitateremoval of the separable magnet.
 20. The welding wire package as definedin claim 1 wherein the ring includes at least partial perforations forremoving the one or more separable magnets.